The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, an image processing method and a recording medium for distinguishing a group of images related to each other from a large number of images in order to use the group of images in image layout, decorations for the layout and the like in photo products such as photo books.
A photo book is a photo album that is created to have the layout desired by a user with a predetermined number of images selected by the user from among a plurality of images (image data) possessed by the user. Examples of photo products include, in addition to photo books, shuffle prints (in which a plurality of images are randomly arranged on a single mount), postcards and usual photo prints.
Conventionally, a photo book has been expected to be created from about several hundred images taken in one event such as a travel and a wedding. On the other hand, in recent years, by users each having a large number of images but not having time to create a photo book, a photo book is created as a memorial album from a large number of, i.e., 1000 to several thousands of images taken in a year, for instance.
However, there has been a problem in that it is extremely troublesome for a user to select images the user desires to put in a photo book from a large number of images and to think about the layout, i.e., how and which photo to arrange in each page of the photo book.
To cope with it, at present, an automatic layout function is realized in which, by specifying a photographing period of images and the number of pages of a photo book, a predetermined number of images having been specified with the photographing period are automatically selected from among a large number of images, and the layout of respective pages of the photo book which has been specified in terms of the number of pages is automatically created using the predetermined number of images as selected. Consequently, a user can easily produce a photo book from a large number of images without much trouble.
However, even when the automatic layout function is used, it is still difficult to, from a large number of images, collect images related to each other that have been taken in a single event such as a travel and a wedding and put a group of the related images in a single page of a photo book.
While the selection of images and the determination of layout have been automated as described above, in creation of a photo book, the design of decorations in the layout such as background sheets, frames and clip art is also an important factor for making the photo book more attractive.
Appropriate design of such decorations varies depending on the contents of a group of images arranged in the layout. For example, if decorations for a group of images of “wedding” are applied to a group of images of “child”, this causes a feeling of strangeness. In addition, in the case where a photo book is created using a group of images of “child”, appropriate decorations vary depending on whether it is a page having “images of snapshots of daily life” or a page having “images taken at the sea”.
Thus, a sense of design is required in terms of, in addition to the layout of images, decorations in the layout in order to create an attractive photo book, but the function of automatically designing decorations for the layout has not yet been realized.
Now JP 2011-170690 A is given as prior art literature related to the present invention.
JP 2011-170690 A describes an information processing apparatus that creates a short movie from image data with the use of a template whose dramatizing method for the short movie has been decided, and that comprises an analysis section configured to extract image information from image data and analyze a theme of each image data group including a plurality of pieces of the image data on the basis of the extracted image information; and a selection section configured to automatically select a combination of a template stored in association with the theme and an image data group on the basis of the analyzed theme.